Aqsis Renderer README
---------------------

Aqsis is a high quality, photorealistic, 3D rendering solution. It complies
with the RenderMan(R) interface standard defined by Pixar.

The RenderMan(R) standard has been used in film and television visual effects
since it's introduction in 1989. Pixar has used their own implementation for
all of their award winning CG features, and provided their implementation for
use in the visual effects of most major blockbuster films over the last 2
decades. The Aqsis project offers a way for individuals and organisations alike
to gain experience with the RenderMan(R) interface without the cost of
commercial software licenses.

Aqsis comprises a command line rendering tool, a tool for compiling shaders in
the RSL language, a tool for preparing textures for optimal use, and various
developer libraries to enable integration with third party tools.

For more information, visit to the aqsis website:

www.aqsis.org


Documentation
-------------

The documentation may be accessed online at the aqsis wiki:

http://wiki.aqsis.org/doc/index


Brief list of tools
-------------------

* Binary command line tools and graphical interfaces:
	aqsis		-	the renderer
	aqsl		-	the shader compiler
	aqsltell	-	the shader inspection tool
	eqsl		-	the toolsuite user interface
	teqser		-	the texture pre-processor
	miqser		-	the RIB processor
	piqsl		-	the advanced framebuffer

* Scripts:
	mpanalyse.py	-	Analysis tool for micropolygon dump format (see scripts
						directory).  Note that mpanalyse requires CGKit and pyOpenGL
						as extra dependencies.


License
-------

Aqsis is licensed under the GNU GPL.  See the COPYING file for details.
libri2rib is licensed under the GNU LGPL. See the rib/ri2rib/COPYING_LGPL file
for details.


Authors
-------

Aqsis was originally written by Paul Gregory for use under Win32.  See the
AUTHORS file for subsequent contributors.


Installation
------------

See the INSTALL file for installation instructions.

Credits
-------

The following libraries form part of the Aqsis solution, the copyright for
these libraries lies with the respective owners.

Boost   - http://www.boost.org
FLTK    - http://www.fltk.org
JPEG    - http://www.ijg.org
libpng  - http://www.libpng.org
LibTIFF - http://www.libtiff.org
OpenEXR - http://www.openexr.org
zlib    - http://www.zlib.net



Happy Rendering!
- Aqsis Team


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This software is OSI Certified Open Source Software.
OSI Certified is a certification mark of the Open Source Initiative.
